Book Review: The Upside of Unrequited

Release Date: April 11, 2017
Author: Becky Albertalli
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Length:336 pages
Source: Purchased Audio Book

Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love—she’s lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.

Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie’s new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. Will is funny and flirtatious and just might be perfect crush material. Maybe more than crush material. And if Molly can win him over, she’ll get her first kiss and she’ll get her twin back.

There’s only one problem: Molly’s coworker Reid. He’s an awkward Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there’s absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?

    

Review:

Protagonist: Molly Peskin-Suso has a lot of crushes in her life, and out of those crushes she's never been in a relationship. So, when it seems like everyone in her life from her twin sister to her best friend all have relationships, she feels she's missing out on something and strives to have her first relationship, luckily her sister's new girlfriend has a cute hipster best friend. Then there's her new co-worker, a guy she would never have a crush on, but she can't seem to get him out of her head. I swear Becky Albertalli writes the most relatable characters for me. I've also had a lot of experience with unrequited romantic feelings and every word the author uses to describe those feelings and what Molly goes through in this book just hit home so freaking hard. I loved seeing Molly's POV, and I love that, after reading Leah on the Offbeat, that Molly's experience being fat is different than Leah's even though they face a lot of the same struggles. Molly is a character that flies off the page from the very beginning.

Romance: If I were to have any negative things to say about this book it would have to be in regard to the romance. It has nothing to do with Reid, one of Molly's love interests, since being a fat nerdy guy I really liked seeing someone like me as a serious love interest. It had more to do with the love triangle than anything else and possibly because of how much is given away in the synopsis. I never really felt that there was anything surprising about this romance and while I felt it played out in a very authentic way, I sort of wish there was something more to the romance in this book. Still, I do really like Molly's relationships with both her suitors.

World Building: Going into this book I knew that this took place in the same universe as both Simon and Leah, but I didn't know how much those characters factored into this book, I figured Abby would pop up, since this book is about her cousins, but I was extremely surprised to find that Simon also appears in this book. I loved seeing all the little call outs to Simon's book, but also this book could stand completely on its own, and it does, you don't need to read aby other Albertalli books, though you should they're fantastic. I loved seeing so much representation in this book, from racial representation to LGBT rep, to Fat rep, it was so great so many diverse characters in this amazing contemporary novel.

Predictability: So as I said in the romance section, the romance wasn't really all that surprising, but that doesn't mean that this book wasn't surprising. One of the biggest surprises I found with this book is how much more dramatic this book is than Simon's book, or even Leah's, there's more confrontation which was really great to see from this author as it seems she reserves drama for when it happens naturally, it never seems like, in any of her books, she goes out of her way to include drama and confrontation, everything just sort of unfolds naturally. There are also a few great twists in turns in this book which I also really enjoyed.

Ending: While I do feel that this book, much like Simon's does have a full ending, they both sort of end abruptly. I mean once the main plot is all settled there's a rather large chunk to make sure and tie everything up, but once everything s tied up the story just sort of ends, but maybe that's just because I never want to leave this world and I just love these characters too much.

Rating:

While this wasn't my favorite Albertalli book, I still freaking loved it and can't wait to read more from this author in the future, hopefully, there will be more books in the Simonverse to explore!

Book Review: Leah on the Offbeat (Creekwood #2)

Release Date: April 24, 2018
Author: Becky Albertalli
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Length: 352 pages
Source: Purchased Book

Leah Burke—girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier’s best friend from the award-winning Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—takes center stage in this novel of first love and senior-year angst.

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.

So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.

    

Review:

Protagonist: While we didn't really get a lot of Leah in Simon vs. the Homo Sapien's Agenda, well, now she has her own books and she freaking kills it! I love Leah so much as a character, I mean she was great for the odd sarcastic and snarky retort or comment in Simon, but I love getting to see a more vulnerable side to her in this book, it's that vulnerability that I very quickly related to, I mean nearly everything she goes through in this book felt extremely relatable, the vulnerabilities about her weight, bisexuality, and art were the things I related to the most, although instead of drawings substitute stories, but they're very similar feelings. In the end, Leah's really this giant ball of insecurities and vulnerabilities with a hard badass shell. I loved learning more about her character, seeing the trials and tribulations she goes through in her Senior Year of High School, and I seriously couldn't get enough of her.

Romance: So, the biggest mystery for me going into this book was, who will be Leah's love interest, and I have to say I didn't really see it coming, at all. Obviously I'm not going to give it away, as just like with Simon the love interest is a mystery for much of the book, well actually that's not quite true, after a certain point it becomes obvious who Leah will gravitate more towards, but for a good while there, there were a lot of prospects, or at least they were prospects in my head, and I liked seeing this array of posibilities for Leah, I mean for a second there I thought that Leah and Taylor might eventually be a thing, they aren't but it was an interesting ship for a page or two. Though I'm glad it wasn't Taylor as I ship Leah and her Love Interest so freaking hard in this book, I mean I was seriously surprised at how much I adored them together and I really wish the book was longer just so that I could have more of them together.

World Building: When I first saw this book being described as a "sequel" to Simon vs. the Homo Sapien's Agenda, I was kind of like "Eh, it's more of a companion, but whatever, I'm not complaining." however, this book, in so many ways, feels like a sequel to Simon, even if there's a new narrator. We're back at Creekwood High and nearly everyone from the first book is back and their lives are about to get so, so complicated as they navigate prom, college tours, college acceptances, (or lack thereof) and of what the world will bring them after they've left high school. Things are getting real and tensions rise as reality crashes down hard. While it was painful seeing some of these characters go through some real and shitty struggles, I had to remind myself that characters struggling is a good thing, as not only is it more realistic, but it's those struggles that make everything worth it, I mean a story with no struggle is frankly just boring. Oh, and if anyone's wondering, there are references made to the characters of The Upside of Unrequited, though unlike this book being a sequel for Simon, there isn't the same, or really any, level of "sequel" for that installment, or at least I don't think so, I haven't read it yet and honestly don't feel like anything was spoiled, in fact I want to read it even more now.

Predictability: So, as I said, the main mystery of this book, at least for me, was who Leah's primary love interest would be, and like I said, I didn't see it coming. I mean, there's plenty of foreshadowing that hints at it, even early on, but I didn't take it seriously for quite a while. As for everything else in this book, well it's a little on the predictable side, but at the same time, it never felt like the author was trying to shock or surprise readers. There are some really funny twists, such as where the gang goes for dinner before prom, and how a certain prom-posal goes down. In conclusion, this isn't a twisty shocking book, it's a fun and sometimes devastatingly realistic journey and while there a few surprises here and there, there's nothing too shocking in this story.

Ending: As I said before, I really didn't want this book to end, and there were quite a few reasons for that, one is that there wasn't really a final climax to this book, or well there is but it comes so late in the book that there were certain things I wished to see explored before the book finished. The final climax was really emotional and I loved every minute and every word of it, but I do still wish that we got the see how certain characters reacted to everything before tying the book up. The final chapter acts as an epilogue taking place in the near future and tying nearly everything up and it's just freaking adorable and I loved that as well as it really highlights just how far Leah has come since the beginning of this book.

Rating:

Is it any surprise that I gave this book 5 stars!? I mean, I love Simon so much and this book has a very similar feel, obviously, and in some ways, I feel that I love it even more than Simon, and if we don't get a "Love, Leah" move or whatever, I'm seriously going to be bummed.

Book Review: The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo #2)

Release Date: May 2, 2017
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Length: 432 pages
Source: Purchased Book

Zeus has punished his son Apollo—god of the sun, music, archery, poetry, and more—by casting him down to earth in the form of a gawky, acne-covered sixteen-year-old mortal named Lester. The only way Apollo can reclaim his rightful place on Mount Olympus is by restoring several Oracles that have gone dark. What is affecting the Oracles, and how can Apollo do anything about them without his powers?

After experiencing a series of dangerous—and frankly, humiliating—trials at Camp Half-Blood, Apollo must now leave the relative safety of the demigod training ground and embark on a hair-raising journey across North America. Fortunately, what he lacks in godly graces he's gaining in new friendships—with heroes who will be very familiar to fans of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus series. Come along for what promises to be a harrowing, hilarious, and haiku-filled ride. . . .

    

Review:

Protagonist: Apollo has overcome his trial at Camp Half-Blood and restored the Grove of Dodonna, now he and his new companions Leo and Calypso head to Indianapolis to restore another Oracle to help restore Apollo's god-deficiency problem. Honestly, out of all the first person POVs that Riordan has written, I have to love Apollo the best. That juxtaposition between his hubris and reality is hysterical and yet, it's that cold harsh reality that lets this newly mortal god have some real character development for probably the first time in four thousand years. What makes these moments of humility so great is that usually, it's because of the choices Apollo made as a deity, not his fragility as a mortal which adds some great depth and empathy to his character that doesn't seem like it would just all go away once, or if, he should ever regain his divinity.

World Building: Out of the two Trials of Apollo books, I'd have to say that the first one is better. It's not that this story isn't great, but the first installment had all of the things I was looking for, classic Greek myths that were recognizable to me, checking in with some of my favorite characters from the previous series, and seeing it all from the perspective of one of the most iconic Greek gods. Now this book technically hit all of those marks, but just not as well. The myths and history to this story were far more obscure and while I loved learning about new myths, there wasn't enough that I recognized to invest me in the story even more. Though I have to say that at least on the history aspect and the Roman Emperor we meet in this story I do like that Apollo had a more personal connection with him. As for checking in with old characters, this story, obviously, includes fan favorite character Leo Valdez, and his newly mortal girlfriend Calypso, as well as one other old character that I'll not disclose to keep their appearance more of a surprise. While Leo and Calypso did help out Apollo quite a bit, I felt that their role was more of an epilogue to their story than an actual contribution to the narrative of Apollo's trials. Plus, in the previous story, it was exciting to see a teenage mortal Apollo hanging out with his kids which didn't really happen here. Overall though it was still an exhilarating story set in a world of rich classic stories, myths, and history so it was still a home run, just not a grand slam.

Predictability: Since the influence for this tale; the myths, and history, is so obscure it was hard to find enough of a theme to see where things were going. In fact, even when I caught on to the main themes of this adventure, it the author does a fantastic job of subverting expectations to provide a wild and crazy ride filled with twists and turns that I wasn't really expecting at all. Now, there were still, of course, basic and grand vague things that I could pretty much count on happening or in some cases, not happening, that it wasn't like this story completely dumped all modern storytelling conventions and formulas in favor of a story that while shocking wouldn't be satisfying. I have to hand it to Riordan, he's been writing these books for a while and he really knows just which tropes and expectations need a bit of a twist to keep things interesting.

Ending: The ending this story is really where a lot of the subversion of tropes comes into play. Don't get me wrong, it's not an insane roller coaster ride, well not really, but it's more that after the first book in this series I had a set idea about how this story would end, on a grand vague scale at least, and while there were quite a few things that I was able to guess right, things still didn't go quite the way I had expected. The final climax was really amazing and had a ton of fabulous tension building everything up to a great head. Then we're treated to some foreshadowing of upcoming events and see just where this story will be going next and some clues to who we'll come upon in the next adventure.

Rating:

So, I know I kind of ragged on this book for not being as good as the first, but it's still a stellar addition to this series. Apollo's character development alone deserves the five stars, but with an author that knows just how to formulate a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat without things becoming too chaotic, I mean, what more is there to ask for, plus the next book seems to have a huge load of potential.

Blog Tour Audiobook Review: Timekeeper (Timekeeper #1)

Release Date: November 8, 2016/February 14, 2017
Author: Tara Sim
Narrator: Gary Furlong
Publisher: Sky Pony Press/Forever Young Audiobooks
Length: 414 pages/8 hrs. 48 mins.
Source: Audiobook Received for Tour Review

Two o’clock was missing.

In an alternate Victorian world controlled by clock towers, a damaged clock can fracture time—and a destroyed one can stop it completely.

It’s a truth that seventeen-year-old clock mechanic Danny Hart knows all too well; his father has been trapped in a Stopped town east of London for three years. Though Danny is a prodigy who can repair not only clockwork, but the very fabric of time, his fixation with staging a rescue is quickly becoming a concern to his superiors.

And so they assign him to Enfield, a town where the tower seems to be forever plagued with problems. Danny’s new apprentice both annoys and intrigues him, and though the boy is eager to work, he maintains a secretive distance. Danny soon discovers why: he is the tower’s clock spirit, a mythical being that oversees Enfield’s time. Though the boys are drawn together by their loneliness, Danny knows falling in love with a clock spirit is forbidden, and means risking everything he’s fought to achieve.

But when a series of bombings at nearby towers threaten to Stop more cities, Danny must race to prevent Enfield from becoming the next target or he’ll not only lose his father, but the boy he loves, forever.

    

Review:

Protagonist: Danny Hart is a clock mechanic, one of a group of people that can put a clock tower back together after it's been damaged. Danny wants nothing more than to save his father from being trapped in a town where time has stopped, but because of his severe emotional attachment to the project, his superiors believe that his talents would be put to better use in the town of Enfield. I felt that the author of this story does a fantastic job with Danny's characterization. It's very easy to get emotionally invested in his hopes and dreams, and feel bad for him when those dreams don't work out as he planned, while still understanding where, as was the case with the lead mechanic keeping him off the job of rescuing the Stopped town his father is in, others are coming from. There are never times when Danny's actions didn't make sense or that there was never anything to justify his actions. While deeply flawed in many ways, Danny has a well-plotted development over the course of this story, while still feeling like a real, imperfect protagonist by the end.

Romance: Honestly, if there was one thing to turn me off going into this story it would have been the forbidden love aspect, but since everything else sounded so interesting I thought I'd give it a try anyway, and I wasn't let down. First off, this isn't a cliche and trope-filled forbidden romance. There are many times in this book where I wasn't sure what would happen in the romance, where I genuinely wondered whether or not Danny and Colton, the spirit of Enfield's clock tower, will end up together. I'm still not sure if they will or not, since it's a series, and that level of not knowing is so refreshing, I mean, in most forbidden romances the romance is viewed as this beautiful and perfect love, but the characters always seem to fall in love too hard too fast and have an unhealthy attachment to one another that is passed off as romantic. In this story, however, Danny and Colton learn about each other, they make mistakes and fight, and while they grow very fond of each other and will fight to stay in each other's lives they never cross that line towards manic and obsessed which I was ecstatic about.

World Building: One of the first things to draw me to this story was the fact that time is controlled by clock towers and that if the clock tower is damaged, then so is time itself. What I never expected though, was just how intricately the world building would go into this phenomenon. There are chapters in this book that detail the mythology of this world, and shine a light on how time works in this world. While these chapters are short, few, and far between, they add an addictive layer to this world that I couldn't help but be drawn to. Most of this book takes place in London is a sort of steampunk world with automatons and cars with no seat belts. Everything has a bit of an old-fashioned feel to it and the world comes alive in each chapter. Even with how much there is to learn about in this world, there's still so much more that I want to know, such as clocks in other parts of the world, which I think we're getting in book 2, and more about the mythology attached to time and the clock towers.

Predictability: For the most part this story is very unpredictable. While there is a good amount of foreshadowing here and there, a lot of it is very subtle and very rarely does the author write something that will clue the reader in on a big, or even medium, twist. One of the best twists in this story doesn't have ANY foreshadowing, at least not until a few minutes before the twist is revealed. It's something that completely changes the game and does so in such a satisfying and shocking way that I can't stop gushing about it. Looking back I can't remember many moments where I knew something was going to happen or whodunnit a significant amount of time before it was revealed.

Ending: If you're looking for a good first book in a series that doesn't try to drag you off a cliff with it's ending then you've come to the right place. As the story moves into its final climax, and what a fantastic and invigorating final climax it is, I was waiting for the twist that would prolong this story more than it needed to so that this could be a trilogy (I swear I'm really an optimist at heart,) but then the main story concluded and we were given a really nice cooldown with just a little twist that speaks to more stories within this world. There wasn't a huge cliffhanger or a feeling that, at least for the moment, things aren't resolved. While I am highly anticipating the release of Chainbreaker, the second book in this series, I can honestly say that I won't mind waiting a bit.

Audiobook Notes: So, I suck at reviewing Audio Books, which is why I rarely comment on narration and production if I listen to a book on audio unless it's extremely well done and stands out above other audiobooks, i.e. having ambient and background sound and music, or a full voice cast. However, this book has no extra effort put into the Audio Book, and that's not a bad thing. In fact, added features would have distracted from the overall story and the tension that builds during certain scenes, a full voice cast would have been nice, but the narrator does a perfectly wonderful job at narrating, although I would have preferred more distinct voices for certain characters. Overall, the Audio Book was great, the narrator did a fine job telling the story and it was put together very well.

Rating:

If you couldn't tell by how much I gushed about this book I loved it. The world is stunning and unique, and the characters are so perfectly imperfect. I can't wait to read on and see what will happen next!

About the Author:

Tara Sim is the author of Timekeeper (Sky Pony Press) and can typically be found wandering the wilds of the Bay Area, California. When she’s not chasing cats or lurking in bookstores, she writes books about magic, clocks, and explosives. Follow her on Twitter at @EachStarAWorld, and check out her website at tarasim.com.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads | Instagram

About the Narrator:

Gary Furlong grew up in Wexford, Ireland. Throughout his life he has worn many a hat: He has worked as a teacher in Niigata, Japan; a puppeteer in Prague; an improv artist in Memphis, Tennessee; and as a singer and actor all over Ireland. He started narrating audiobooks in late 2015 and hasn't looked back.

Gary made his acting debut in the musical Godspell as a student. Since then he has pursued acting both on the amateur and professional circuits. Notable roles include Tom Collins in Bare Cheek's production of Rent in 2010.

Over the course of his five years in Japan, he was an actor, director, and audio producer. It was during this time that he discovered his interest in audiobooks and voice-over.

He now works full-time as an audiobook narrator and voice actor from his home in Ireland.

Website | Twitter

Giveaways:

Giveaway 1:

Timekeeper Giveaway #1

Giveaway 2:

Timekeeper Giveaway #2

Book Review: Been Here All Along

Release Date: August 30. 2016
Author: Sandy Hall
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Length: 240 pages
Source: eGalley via NetGalley

Gideon always has a plan. His plans include running for class president, becoming head of the yearbook committee, and having his choice of colleges. They do NOT include falling head over heels for his best friend and next door neighbor, Kyle. It’s a distraction. It’s pointless, as Kyle is already dating the gorgeous and popular head cheerleader, Ruby. And Gideon doesn’t know what to do.

Kyle finally feels like he has a handle on life. He has a wonderful girlfriend, a best friend willing to debate the finer points of Lord of the Rings, and social acceptance as captain of the basketball team. Then, both Ruby and Gideon start acting really weird, just as his spot on the team is threatened, and Kyle can’t quite figure out what he did wrong…

    

Review:

Characters: Wow there are a lot of characters in this book. Well actually, not a LOT, only four POVs, but since each chapter might switch between two or three POVs, it got a bit too much sometimes, but I'll talk about that in a while, first let me introduce you to the cast. First, we have Gideon, a very organized and highly intelligent individual, who' only claim to nerddom is a love for Lord of the Rings, and sooner or later he realizes that he's starting to have feelings for his best friend. That friend would be Kyle, a bisexual captain of the basketball team who's recently having a bit of trouble in school and if something doesn't change his future athletic career might be in jeopardy, and if that's not enough not long after coming out as bisexual to his girlfriend, she starts acting a bit weird.  The other two POVs are Kyle's girlfriend Ruby, who has some sub-plots of her own, but they're too tied up in the main story for me to talk about here, and Ezra, Gideon's older brother, who comes home after trying and failing to make it big as a surfer and finds a role to play in this story. Okay, I'm going to level with you guys, I wanted to like these characters, and it's not even that I dislike them, but they just didn't seem real to me. They weren't over the top or anything, or really even two-dimensional, it's just that I couldn't find myself caring about them. There were times when I felt something, but it never really lasted, which kind of made it worse since there was so much untapped potential.

Romance: I think it goes without saying that if I couldn't find myself caring about the characters that I couldn't really find myself caring about the romance. Again, it isn't even that the romance is bad, but the situation is a bit weird. With this being such a short book there wasn't a lot of time for things to be drawn out, but the way everything went down just feels a bit weird. This book definitely has pacing issues and the romance is one of them. I will say, though, that there are times in which Gideon and Kyle have some chemistry, and they are, during some parts kind of cute together, but if I compare it to most of the romances I've read, it just doesn't tug at my heartstrings as forcefully as the others.

World Building: This book is weird. Not in terms of plot per se, but in terms of how it's paced and formatted. Like I said before, I feel like there are not only too many narrators but with the POV switching at the very least once per chapter, even though there are prompts letting the reader know when the voice is switching, it can get confusing sometimes. Then there's the plot itself, it's not weird but it does feel very cliche. Minus the LGBT aspects, it almost feels as though this story is pulled out of a cheesy teen romcom movie. Then there's the writing. The writing was very bland. There was nothing about the writing that pulled me into the story. I've read cliche stories before, things that you'd see in cheesy movies, but as long as the writing is good it's easy to see past flaws like that, but everything in this book felt very clinical, I couldn't sense any real emotion behind the words, the author fails to paint a good picture of the scene and instead resort to naming off near useless facts and telling far more than showing.

Predictability: This book didn't really have any twists, I mean, there were things that I supposed were supposed to be twists, but given how cliche this book could be they were easy to see coming. The only time I wasn't really able to predict where this story was going to go wasn't because there was good foreshadowing or the author set it up, but more that it didn't go in line exactly with the cliche. For the most part this book just sort of flowed. It never really had any mysteries or unpredictability hidden in its depths.

Ending: I want to say this ending made up for everything, that it made me change my mind about things for the most part, but it didn't. In fact this ending kind of fits right alongside everything I've said about this book so far. It's cliche, it's easy to see where everything is going to end up and while towards the end there are a couple of moments that lightly pluck at my heartstrings, for the most part, as sad as I am to say it, I was just happy that this book was over.

Rating:

I had such high hopes for this book when I wished for it on NetGalley and actually got it I was so stoked, but it soon became apparent that this story just isn't for me. It's too cliche, the writing doesn't do anything for me, and while the main couple is kind of cute together, there's just too much about this book that feels like a hot mess.

Book Review: The Scorpion Rules (Prisoners of Peace #1)

Release Date: September 22, 2015
Author: Erin Bow
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Length: 384 pages
Source: eGalley via NetGalley

The children of world leaders are held hostage in an attempt to keep the peace in this “slyly humorous, starkly thought-provoking” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) novel.

Greta is a Duchess and a Crown Princess. She is also a Child of Peace, a hostage held by the de facto ruler of the world, the great Artificial Intelligence, Talis. This is how the game is played: if you want to rule, you must give one of your children as a hostage. Start a war and your hostage dies.

The system has worked for centuries. Parents don’t want to see their children murdered.

Greta will be free if she can make it to her eighteenth birthday. Until then she is prepared to die with dignity, if necessary. But everything changes when Elian arrives at the Precepture. He’s a hostage from a new American alliance, and he defies the machines that control every part of their lives—and is severely punished for it. His rebellion opens Greta’s eyes to the brutality of the rules they live under, and to the subtle resistance of her companions. And Greta discovers her own quiet power.

Then Elian’s country declares war on Greta’s and invades the prefecture, taking the hostages hostage. Now the great Talis is furious, and coming himself to deliver punishment. Which surely means that Greta and Elian will be killed...unless Greta can think of a way to break all the rules.

    

Review:

Protagonist: Greta has always been the idealistic Child of Peace, the girl who follows the rules, and if her time ever came, would accept her death gracefully. However, when a new hostage is brought into her Precepture she begins to see just how terrifying her world really is. On the whole I really liked Greta and her character development. She goes from the ultimate good girl, who's totally drinking the Precepture Kool-Aid, to someone who challenges the views of this world. Her character development isn't too dramatic and doesn't contrast too much with who she is at the beginning of the book. She just sort of wakes up and looks at the world differently and wonders what she can do to change it.

Romance: The romance in this book is really weird. First off I want to say that there will be a minor spoiler in this section, but I feel like it's a bit of information that's needed to experience this world and the romance in this book more fully. There's a love triangle in this book, between Greta, Elian, and Greta's roommate Xie, with Greta being the magnet in this situation. Meaning there's not only a love triangle but a bisexual one at that which I found very interesting. The problem is though that the romance is sort of just pushed to the wayside for most of this book to make way for the plot and world-building, leading the romances to just sort of happen. I can't think of anyway else to explain it, there's no preamble, not romantic tension before the characters' feelings give way, and with Elian I was more on board with the romance since I was expecting it, but with Xie it took me a bit longer to get used to it since it sort of comes out of no where. However since the romance just sort happened and there wasn't a lot of time to dwell on everything it got really confusing. In most books with a love triangle, there's a lot of agonizing confusion with the main character about who they like and who they want to be with, there really isn't any of that here which made getting a grasp on Greta's feeling nearly impossible.

World-Building: What I found so interesting about this dystopian world is how truly terrifying it sounds just on the surface. Most dystopian worlds try and sound good on the surface, hiding the truly terrifying things about it in it's seedy underbelly, but this one, right away, just sounds insane. That's not even the half of it though. There are far more terrifying things going on in this world than just what you see on the surface, how these children are essentially indoctrinated into being willing hostages to this regime, and how they sort of lose all their fire and defiance so quickly. I really enjoyed getting to learn more about this world and how everything works. In this world there are new countries, monarchies found new life under Talis's rule, though not all countries and alliances use monarchical systems. Each character in this world is so multi-layered and while there are characters that I wish we could learn more about, their struggles and hardships, I only hope that there'll be time in future books to see that.

Predictability: On the whole this book is fairly unpredictable. There is a lot that I could see coming, just from the genre of the book as well as from analyzing the synopsis, but there was still so much that I did not see coming. There wasn't too much foreshadowing, which was a bit of a blessing as well as a curse. Whole sometimes it worked to make a twist have a lot of punch and shock, sometimes it just made things more confusing and vague. Even towards the end there were things about this book, things that I doubt will be touched on in later books, that I'm still a bit confused about, but for the most part I really enjoyed the direction this story took, shocking as it turned out to be.

Ending: The ending of this book was also weird now that I think about it. I mean, what I would typically call the final climax, what fits the archetype of a final climax in this book, comes quite a ways before the actual ending. There are more climactic moments afterwards, but the real final climax of this book, which was much more of an internal struggle, doesn't really fit the typical YA dystopian formula, which upon reflection I actually really like. Going into this ending I wondered if the next book would be a companion novel, more something that continued the story from another point of view than a new story entirely though, but from the looks of things, and the cliffhanger ending, it seems that the next book will in fact be a direct sequel,

Rating:

So I really struggled with this rating, I almost wanted to give it 3.5 stars, but I enjoyed the plot of the book too immensely for that. My biggest problem was that the romance didn't get the care and attention it needed, and also there were metaphors that I felt were used too liberally throughout the story.

Book Review: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda (Creekwood #1)

Release Date: April 7, 2015
Author: Becky Albertalli
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Length: 320 pages

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

    

Review:

Protagonist: Simon is a smart, funny, Harry Potter-obsessed nerd, and he's being blackmailed. Simon is a fantastic character that really just puts this novel over the top. The little comments he adds, and the jokes he makes are really grounded and kind of brings me back to high school in a lot of ways. Granted, I didn't go through nearly as much drama and confusion as he does, but he does handle most things in this book like a pro. He's a bit nosy, in a good way, but he seems to miss a lot of the big things. His development in this book is something that crept up on me but by the end, while he's not a completely different person, he has changed and not just on a superficial level.

Romance: The romance in this book was adorable, and it might be because it was mostly done over emails nearly every other chapter. So, in the beginning, Simon and Blue don't know who the other is and it's agreed upon not to share that information. Anyway, so they have been emailing for a few months before the beginning of the book and at first it's more about being able to confide their feelings about being gay with someone and having an outlet that they can vent to and be honest with and know that the other person, at least on some level, knows what they're going through. Eventually, though things get more forward and flirtatious and a real romance starts to form despite the anonymity. It's a light and fun romance with nearly no drama and I always found myself wanting to get to the email chapters.

World-Building: So with this being on contemporary, and me not really knowing how to discuss the world-building of a book rooted in reality, I'm just going to use this as an outlet for a few things I noticed. First off was the vague blackmail, it kind of cheapened things a bit to make it seem so innocent. Granted, it wasn't innocent in Simon's eyes, but Martin, the douchebag blackmailer, didn't even really demand anything, just hinted at wanting to spend more time with Abby, his crush and one of Simon's best friends, and as the "bad guy" and considering how much of a horrible and terrible person he is, it wouldn't have surprised me if he just asked for Simon to hook him up with Abby point blank. Also, I'm not great at articulating my feelings about writing styles and the like, but I do have to point out that there is something off about the writing in this book, it's not so bad to make it impossible or even difficult to read, but it is noticeable.

Predictability: For the most part this book was pretty unpredictable, there were moments that hinted at certain things, and while I had my suspicions I wasn't certain of how my suspicions could be right. I will say though that Blue's identity is easy to guess, but not so easy that Simon not putting it together would make him seem stupid.

Ending: I was so happy that this ending wasn't as idealistic as I was expecting it to be. Seriously towards the end, I thought it was going to be an "everybody gets a happy ending, yay for no consequences to life" type of ending that would just cheapen the realness of this book. Instead though there were things that didn't completely work out and some things were strategically left in the air, but otherwise cleared up.

Rating:

Holy Crap this book is amazing. I loved eery minute of this book and could barely put it down. I can't wait to read more from this author and see what stories she'll tackle next.